It comes at a time when the future of Colstrip is increasingly uncertain. It is majority-owned by utility companies that serve customers on the West Coast, where there’s mounting political pressure to stop buying coal-fired power shipped in from Montana.

"Right now, we’re sort of in a place where you hear a lot of noise, but not a lot of direction," Bullock says. "To try to have a little bit more structure in a discussion, I think it’s good for our overall state."

Today Governor Bullock sent a letter to Bob Rowe, the CEO of NorthWestern Energy, inviting him to be part of the working group.

In the letter, Bullock says that in a recent conversation, Rowe had indicated that there might be, “potential long-term benefits," to Northwestern taking ownership of a greater portion of Colstrip.

Claudia Rapkoch, a spokeswoman for NorthWestern, says NorthWestern only owns about 9 percent of Colstrip, and has not yet responded to the governor’s invitation.

"We would not consider any scenario that would cause any harm either in the form of increased costs or risks to our current retail supply customers, but we also know that as citizens of Montana, and as an essential infrastructure provider, we have to work together to find suitable solutions to keep our economy thriving," Rapkoch says.

Governor Bullock says two out-of-state companies with large shares in Colstrip have agreed to join the working group, those being Washington state-based Puget Sound Energy, and Talen Energy of Pennsylvania. Bullock says he plans to issue more invitations in the next week or so to talk about market, legislative and regulatory issues related to potential changes in Colstrip’s ownership structure.

One of the owners of Colstrip Units 1 and 2 denies his company is angling for a fast-track closure of the coal-fired power plants. Steve Secrist, general council for Puget Sound Energy (PSE) told attendees at the Montana Energy Conference the utility is looking to the long-term.

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana regulators on Tuesday ordered NorthWestern Energy to refund customers $8.24 million that the state's largest power company charged when it had to buy electricity on the open market following a 2013 outage of the Colstrip coal plant.

Coal ash ponds have leaked contaminants into ground and surface water surrounding eastern Montana’s Colstrip plant for decades. Three environmental groups have sued the state of Montana for dragging its heels on the clean up effort.

Senator Steve Daines is spending the next two weeks highlighting the energy needs of Montana businesses, and advocating for policies that protect the state’s fossil fuel industries, including coal interests that are facing significant challenges. Daines kicked off what he’s calling his Montana Energy tour today with a stop at the CHS refinery in Laurel.

The future of Montana's Colstrip power plant is very much in the news lately. The Clean Power Plan rules announced by the Obama administration in August called for Montana to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants more than any other state. And the utilities in West Coast states that own most of Colstrip face growing political pressure to stop buying coal-fired electricity from Montana. That makes for an uncertain future for the nearly 800 members of the Montana AFI-CIO unions who work in the Colstrip area.

A study released Wednesday says that complying with President Obama's Clean Power Plan will cost Montana more than 7,000 jobs and more than $2 billion in wages and sales. Those numbers were quickly trumpeted by Montana elected officials who oppose the nationwide plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, including Attorney General Tim Fox, who has joined Montana to a multi-state lawsuit to halt the plan.